Wire-feed stop mechanism for button-setting machines.



LE DRU R. POMEROY. WIRE FEED STOP MEC SM FOR BUTTON SETTING MACHINES.

. APPLICA l N FILED DEC-27. l9l5- 1,206,913. Patented Dee. ,1916.

3 SHEETS l.

LE DRU R. POMEROY. WIRE FEED STOP MECHANISM FOR BUTTON SETTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC- 21. l9l5- 3 SHEETS Patented Dec. 5, 1916.

LE DRU R. POMEROYL.

WIRE FEED STOP MECHANISM FOR BUTTON SETTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC- 21.1915. 1,206,913. Patented Dec. 5,1916.

3 SHEETS-SNEET 3.

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.l STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LE DRU R. POMEROY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO

THE TOLEDO BUTTON MACHINE COMPANY, OF

OHIO.

TOLEDO, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF WIRE-FEED STOP MECHANISM FOR BUTTON-SETTING MACHINES.

Application filed December 27, 1915.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LE DRU R. POMEROY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful'Wire-Feed Stop Mechanism for Button-Setting Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates particularly to shoe button fastening machines of the automatic type, in which buttons and wire lengths are each intermittently fed into interengaging position, the wire lengths severed from the feed wire, formed into staples, and then driven into a shoe or other article to attach the engaged button thereto.

The primary object of my invention is the provision, in a machine of the character described, of means which is automatically operable in a simple and efficient manner to prevent a feeding of the staple wire to button engaging and cutting off position upon the failure of a button to feed to such position.

The invention is fully described in the following specification, and while, in its broader aspect, it is capable of embodiment in numerous forms, a preferred embodiment thereof is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the top portion of a machine embodying the invention, with parts broken away, and with the button placing finger in engagement with a button and in its normal at rest position. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the portion of the machine embodying the invention, with the parts in the position shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a similar view thereof, with the button placing finger engaged with and holding the wire feeding means in released position. Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the upper portion of a machine embodying the invention, with parts broken away. Figs. 5 and 6 are enlarged fragmentary sectional details of the wire shaping and driving parts in different positions. Fig- 7 is an eleva- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 5, 1916.

Serial No. 68,868.

tion of a machine embodying the invention, with the head parts removed and with portions in section. Fig. 8 is a plan view of the wire feed shaping and driving means with the cover plate removed and with the parts in normal position, and Fig. 9 is a fragmentary plan view of the wire feeding means, with a. part thereof partially moved from normal position.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates the head frame of the machine which is carried by a standard 2 having at its bottom a floor stand 3. The frame 1 is provided on its top portion with a table or plate surface 1 which is preferably inclined from front to rear thereof, as indicated in Fig. 4c, and provided at its side and rear edges with an upstanding flange if on which a cover plate 5 is intended to rest at its edge and to cooperate with the frame top and flange to form a case in which certain operating parts of the machine are disposed.

A plunger 6 is mounted on the frame top 1 for reciprocatory movements lengthwise thereof, or forward and rearward with respect thereto. A rocker lever 7 of bell-crank form is mounted within the head frame 1 below the top part 1 thereof, being fulcrumed as at S, and has one arm projecting upward and connected by a link 9 to the rear bottom portion of the plunger 6 through a registering opening 1" in the table or top portion 1, and has its other arm, in the present instance, projecting upward and forward, and connected by a downwardly projccting link or bar 10 to a foot treadle 11, pivoted to the stand 3. A. depressing of the treadle 11 imparts a forward movement to the plunger and a coiled contractile spring 12 normally maintains the plunger and connected parts in retracted position, being attached at its lower end to the link or bar 10 and anchored at its upper end to a pin 13 at the upper end of the standard 2.

A staple driver or punch 141 projects forward from the forward end of the plunger 6, and extends at its forward end between the spaced legs or side flanges of a wire cutting and staple member 15. The member 15 is U-shape in cross-section and has its bottom portion cut away at its forward end to adapt such end to straddle the forward end portion of the staple forming rocker arm 16 as hereinafter described. The member-15 is guided for reciprocatory movements between a shear plate 17 and an opposed guide plate 18, which plates are fiXed in transversely spaced relation to the forward end portion of the frame top 1.

The punch 14 is shown, in the present instance, as being connected to the plunger 6 for reciprocatory movements therewith by reason of a laterally projecting finger '6 at the forward end portion of the plunger proj ecting up' into a registering recess provided in the under side of the punch 14 adjacent to its rear end as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The punch 14 is intended to have limited longitudinal movements relative to the member 15 and for such purpose is provided in its bottom edge with a recess '14 which is elongated lengthwise of the punch and receives a pin 19 that connects the side legs of the member 15 to its rear end. The lengthwise movement of the punch 14 with the plunger 6 is greater than. the length'of the recess '14 so that the member 15 moves with the punch during portions of its movement in both directions. The recess 14 and pin 19 are more particularly, however, for the purpose of retracting the member 15 from its forward position when the punch 14 has moved rearward a predetermined extent from its forward position, as the forward staple forming movementof the member 15 is imparted thereto directly from the plunger 6 by reasonrof the abutting of the forward end of said plunger against the rear end of the member 15 when the plunger has reached a predetermined point in its advancing movement.

The rocker-arm 16 is mounted for rocking movements in an opening 21 provided in the frame top 1 being fulcrumed intermediate its ends in said opening, as at 22, and has its forward and rear ends upwardly angled to form the staple shaping finger 23 and the cam finger 24, respectively. The finger 23 is intended to stand elevated in the path of movement of the punch 14 and is lowered by reason of the forward end of said punch, when at a predetermined point in its forward movement, coacting with the inclined rear side thereof. The rear end of the punch 14 likewise is intended to have contact with the finger 24 to effect a downward rocking of the rear end of the rocker 16 when the punch has reached a predetermined point in its retracting movement or, in other words, when it has receded a sufficient distance to permit a raising of the finger 23 in advance thereof. The finger 24 then coacts with the under side of the punch 14 to retain the finger 23 in staple forming position, as shown in Fig. 5. The finger 23 of the rocker arm 20 is provided in its upper end with a transverse extending notch 23 which when'the finger is in its staple forming position, as shown in Fig. 5, registers with the wire feed opening 17 in the shear plate 17.

A cam dog 25 is pivoted on the top of the forward end portion of the plunger 6 at one side of the punch 14, as shown in Figs. 1 and 8, and when in normal position with respect to the plunger is intended to hear at its forward end against the rear end of the adjacent leg of the staple forming member 15. It is thus evident that an advancing of the plunger 6 from its rear or normal position will. communicate a forward advancing staple forming movement to the member 15 through the medium of the cam dog Y'Vhen the plunger has reached a predetermined point in its forward movement and after the member 15 has coacted with the finger 23 to shape into staple form a section of wire fed thereto, as hereinafter described,

a finger 25 on the cam dog coacts with a stud 26 on the frame top and causes a swinging of the cam dog from pushing engage ment with the staple forming member 15, thereby permitting said member to remain at rest until the plunger has advanced a sufficient extent to place its forward end in abutment with the rear end of said member, which relative movement of the plunger member is so gaged as to advance the nose of the punch 14 to the forward end of the member 15, as shown in Fig. 6. During the remainder of the forward stroke of the plunger 6, the punch 14 and staple forming member 15 advance therewith and the forward end of the punch 14 coacts with an anvil die 27 in advance thereof to clench the formed staple into the article into which it is driven as is well understood in the art. The anvil die 27 is carried by an arm 28 projecting upward from the forward end portion of the head frame 1. r

The shoe buttons a to be attached to an article by the staples are fed through a magazine tube 29, as is well understood in the art, and at each button setting opertion the lowermost button in the magazine tube, if in finger engaging position, is forced therefrom by a placing finger 30 and moved by such finger onto the top of the shaping finger into position to have a wire section threaded through .its eye. The placing finger 30 is pivotally carried, as at 31, by the upper end of a rocker-lever 32, which is pivoted to a stud at one side of the machine frame 1, as at 33, and has its downwardly projecting arm 34 provided with a transversely projecting stud 35. A link 36 projects downward and forward at a side of the frame 1 from the outer end of an arm 6, which projects transversely from the rear end of the plunger 6, and the lower end of said link is provided with a longitudinally-disposed slot 37 into which the pin 35 projects. The pin 35 is normally retained at the upper end of the slot 37 by a coiled contractile spring 38, which connects said pin to a stud 89 on the link 36. The purpose of the slot 37 will be hereinafter described. It is thus evident that when the plunger 6 is in its rearward or retracted position, the lever 32 and finger 30 will normally stand in the positions shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, and that upon a forward movement of the plunger, the finger 30 will be swung rearward into position for its free end to pass up over the forward end portion of the magazine tube 29 and to engage the lowermost button therein through a top opening in the tube, providing such button is in finger engaging position within the tube, as it frequently happens that the buttons do not feed properly into finger engaging position for one reason or another, as is well understood in the art. Upon the next receding movement of the plunger the placing finger 30 is rocked forward and forces the engaged button past the retainer spring 40 at the forward end of the tube and places the button in wire receiving position on the rocker-arm 16, as is well understood in the art. The placing finger 30 is urged downward or held in yielding engagement with a button by a spring 41.

The wire from which the staple sections are cut is mounted in roll form on an arm 42 projecting from a side of the head frame 1 and is loosely placed around a stud or post 43 which rises from said arm. The wire 44, as it is unwound from the roll, passes through the free end of a wire feeding lever 45, which is pivoted, as at 46, to the frame top. The lever 45 carries a movable wire gripper jaw 47 at the end thereof through which the wire 44 feeds, and such jaw is yieldingly held in forward wire feeding engagement with the wire by a spring 48, which coacts with a rearwardly projecting finger 49 on the jaw, as best shown in 1. The engagement of the jaw 47 with the wire is such that the wire is released thereby on an outward swinging of the lever and is gripped thereby on an inward swinging of the lever, thereby enabling the lever and jaw to successively take new bites on the wire and then to feed sections of the same to the staple forming parts. In order that the wire may not be drawn outward from its advanced position by the frictional coaction of the jaw 47 therewith when swung outward with the lever 45, a second jaw 50 is provided on the forward end of the frame top 1 and yieldingly coacts with the wire in a manner to permit a forward feeding thereof and to prevent a rearward movement thereof, as is well understood by reference to Fig. 1. The outward swinging movements of the feed lever 45 are imparted thereto in the present instance, by the cam dog when swung downward from engagement with the staple forming member 15, and the return or wire feeding movements of the feed lever are imparted thereto by the rear end of the plunger acting against the rear angled end of the lever 45 when the plunger is moved rearward.

The means employed for automatically stopping the feed of the wire to the staple forming parts when the placing finger fails to engage and move a button from the forward end of the magazine tube to wire receiving position, and in which means the feature of the present invention resides, will now be described.

Mounted on the forward end of the cover plate 5 for vertical rocking movements relative thereto is a cam plate 51, which is disposed in forwardly projecting position at the rear of the feed jaw 47 and its finger 49. This cam plate is yieldingly held in slightly elevated position by the action of a spring thereon, and when lowered from such'position is adapted to coact with a registering cam edge of an upturned portion 49 of the jaw finger 49 and to communicate a wire releasing movement to the jaw 47 so that it will not feed the wire forward upon the forward or feeding stroke of the feed lever 45. The finger 49 for this purpose extends transversely from the rear end of the jaw 47 so that a forward movement thereof will move the jaw to wire releasing position. The cam plate 51 has its finger engaging edge of suitable length to allow for the swinging movement of the finger 49 with the feed lever 45 and such edge is preferably curved in an arc substantially concentric to the feed lever fulcrum. One end of the cam plate 51 extends upward at 53 at one side of the magazine tube 29 and thence over said tube, as at 54, in position for the rear edge of the part 54 to be engaged by a catch shoulder 55 on the placing finger 30 when moved forward from its retracted button engaging position, provided a button is not in position in the magazine tube to be engaged by said finger, as is best shown in Fig. 3. It will be understood that if the placing finger 30 on the rearward movement thereof rides over and rests on a button in the lower end of the magazine tube and then upon its forward movement moves the button forward into wire receiving position, the finger will be held elevated a suflicient extent by the button for the catch shoulder 55 to pass over the complemental catch part 54 on the cam plate. 011 the other hand, however, should the placing finger 30 not engage a button as it is moved rearward for such purpose, it will upon its subsequent forward movement be lowered a sufiicient extent for the catch shoulder 55 to coact with the rear edge of the cam plate part 54 and effect a downward rocking of the cam plate, thus moving and holding the feeder jaw 47 in released position so that the wire will not be fed forward thereby upon an inward swinging of the feed lever 45.

This automatic feed stop mechanism is important in that it not only saves wire but prevents a staple from being formed and driven into a shoe or other article without a button being attached to the staple. It will be understood that the cam plate 51 is released and raises to its normal inoperative position upon the neXt rearward but ton engaging movement of the placing finger 80, thereby releasing the jaw i7 and permitting it to act on the wire to feed it forward at the next button setting oper ation of the machine, providing a button is engaged and fed downward into wire receiving position during such operation.

It is evident that I have provided a simple and efficient wire feed stop mechanism, which is automatically operable to prevent the feeding of a wire to cutting off and shaping position, if a button has not been fed into position to receive the wire.

While I have shown and described my automatic wire stop mechanism for use in connection with a particular construction of button fastener machine, it will be understood that the invention is not restricted to use in connection with a machine having the particular construction and arrangement of parts shown and described, but that it is capable of use in connection with different forms of wire feeding and staple forming and driving mechanisms without departing from the spirit of the claims, and

7 also that the mechanism embodying the invention is capable of numerous modifications within the scope of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,

1. In a machine of the class described, a

' button placing finger,'means for successively feeding a wire to button engaging position and having a releasable wire feed part, and means operable by said finger to move said wire feed part to released position when the finger fails to engage and feed a button forward to wire receiving position.

2. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a button placing finger, wire feed means having a releasable wire grip ping part and a cam member movable by said fingerupon a button placing movement thereof when not in engagement with a button to act on said feed part and move it from wire engaging position.

8. In a machineof the class described, a button placing finger, a movable cam member normally standing in one position of its movement, wire feed member having a wire engaging part which is movable by movements of said cam member from normal position to release an engaged wire, and

means operable to move said cam member from normal position upon the failure of said linger to feed a button to wire receiving position.

el. In a machine of the class described, a button placing member which, when not in engagement with a button during a button placing movement thereof, has an abormal movement, wire feed means having a releasable wire gripping part, and means op erable by said placing member, during an abnormal button feeding movement thereof, to move the gripping part of said wire feed means to released position. 7

5. In a machine of the class described, a member operable to successively engage and move articles from one position to another and adapted, when not in engagement with an article during a positioning movement, to have an abnormal movement, wire feed means having a releasable wire gripping jaw movable to successively feed wire lengths to a predetermined position, and means operable by said member, during an abnormal positioning movement thereof, to effect a wire releasing movement of said jaw.

6. In a machine of the class described, a member operable to successively engage and move articles from one position to another and adapted, when not inengagement with an article during a positioning movement, to have an abnormal movement, wire feed means havinga releasable wire gripping jaw movabl to successively feed wire lengths to a predetermined position, and means operable by said member, during an abnormal positioning movement thereof, to effect a wire releasing movement of said jaw and to return to inoperative position when said member is next moved to engage and position another article.

7. In a machine of the class described, an article placing member, which, when not in engagement with an article during a placing movement thereof, has an abnormal move ment, said member having a catch part, wire feed means having a releasable wire gripping part, and means normally standing in one position and operable, when moved from such position, to effect a wire release of said gripping part, said last means being moved from normal position by the engagement therewith of the catch part of said member during an abnormal movement of the member.

8. In a machine of the class described, wire feed means having a releasable wire gripping and feed part, a member normally standing in one position and operable, when moved from such position, to effect a release of said wire gripping and feed part, and mechanism having a part operable to successively place buttons in wire receiving position and to engage and move said member from normal position upon the failure of said mechanism part to engage and place position during the feeding operation, and a button in Wire receiving position. mechanism having a part operable to sue- 9. In a machine of the class described, cessively place buttons in Wire receiving po- Wire feed means having a releasable Wire sition and to engage and move said plate 5 gripping and feed jaw normally standing from normal position upon the failure of 1 in Wire gripping position and provided With said mechanism part to engage and place a an arm, a cam rocker-plate normally standbutton in Wire receiving position. ing in one position and operable when moved In testimony whereof, I have hereunto from such position to engage said jaw arm signed my name to this specification.

10 and effect a movement thereof to released LE DRU R. POMEROY.

Copies of this patent may be obtainei for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

